Cover Picture: Phys. Status Solidi RRL 8‐9/2010

The fabrication of MOF (metal‐organic framework) platelets with predefined shapes and well‐defined thicknesses is of a great importance for many applications – but not at all an easy task. In their Letter on page 197 ff., Darbandi et al. describe an approach based on growing thin, highly oriented and ordered MOF films using a novel, highly selective liquid‐phase epitaxy process. In a second step, the MOF platelets grown on prestructured organic substrates are delaminated employing a lift‐off process. The cover shows 3 × 3 μm 2 squares of HKUST‐1 MOF grown on a SAM laterally patterned by μCP on a gold substrate. In the next step the substrate is covered with PMMA dissolved in chlorobenzene. Subsequent heating of the PMMA‐coated samples on a hot plate for 5 min at 100 °C resulted in the formation of a solid film of PMMA resin, which can then be removed from the substrate using a razor blade. Dissolution of the PMMA in acetone then yields suspended SURMOF squares. The free‐standing MOF platelets were characterized with TEM and SEM, the images demonstrate the presence of rather perfect shapes and structures with no evidence of fracture or distortions.